We'd been meaning to try out the new pub in downtown Silver Spring, so we accepted when our friend Terri invited us to join her and her friend Sara there for a 10pm show of a band that she liked, Scythian. Sara and Terri went to see Dreamgirls beforehand, so J and I waited until 8:15 before heading to McGinty's. The first thing that surprised me was that they had an upstairs--I had thought, from the outside, that it was just one large room, similar to one of the DC Irish pubs, but it actually had more room upstairs than down. We ended up eating in the dining room upstairs because we couldn't find a place anywhere to sit in the upstairs bar. As food goes, it was hot and fresh, although the amount of bread they initially included on the smoked salmon starter was laughable (they provided a separate basket of brown bread when we asked for it).

We moved to the bar after dinner, around a quarter to ten, and poked around until we lucked out and took over a table from a couple who were just leaving. By then the opening act, the Christopher Robin Band, had started. Frankly, I don't care how much you are attached to your name, if you're named Christopher Robin, you might as well change it unless you're going to do multiple covers of "House at Pooh Corner." Instead, Robin had the Willie Nelson look (braids and bandana) and played guitar like Greg Allman (whom he had lived with for two years, as both he and Scythian had to tell us three times; we assume that by living with Allman that he wasn't just his poolboy or somesuch). While he played well, his song choices didn't excite me (the only one I can recall now is a cover of "Sweet Melissa").

The crowd was ready for Scythian to come on, because as soon as they started, the floor in front of the stage filled with a few dancers, that continued to multiply until by the end of their second song, the space was packed. The band seemed to like this response and a feedback loop got going between band and crowd. The acoustics were less than optimal, and I really wasn't sure that I cared for their sound, an opinion that was further reduced by a version of Charlie Daniel's Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," a song that has always annoyed me (enough that I find myself agreeing with the artist on one of my KGSR live discs who finds himself in hell and says to the devil, "to tell you the truth, I liked your solo better"). They made up for it a few songs later by covering the Pogues' "South Australia," not to mention a version of "Danny Boy" that totally redeemed that song and made it worthwhile listening again.

Around 11:30, Scythian announced that Christopher Robin was coming back for another set and then they'd return after that, but it was late enough that our party decided to exit. We might have stayed if Scythian had just taken a break and then returned, but none of us really were that interested to hear more Allman stories and solos.

I'd be willing to see Scythian again, although I'll be looking for someplace where we could actually hear them better, perhaps at the big Shamrock Fest on March 10 (considering I had been tempted by that already just to see Carbon Leaf).